FROM THE DESERT TO THE DESERT Part 1

 An upcoming tour from Tohono Chul Garden to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, to view spring wildflowers at the end of February, caught my attention. It has been a wet winter in the desert and a good wildflower season was expected. It seemed like the perfect time for a visit. It was a good time for a quick getaway with the trailer so I booked 6 nights at the campsite at the park for the end of February. 

At the same time there was a lot of chatter on local forums about the Mexican poppy bloom at Picacho Peak State Park. As the park was on the way we decided to pull in. I can't tell you the number of times we have driven by Picacho. The dominating peak of Picacho stands out for miles and on the drive from Phoenix down to Oro Valley signals we are nearly home. We were not disappointed.

It was just to be a brief visit but during the short time we were I there took hundreds of photographs of the Mexican gold poppies that covered the hillsides. The Mexican gold poppy, Eschscholozia californica ssp. mexicana, differs little from the California poppy. Maybe it is a little smaller in size and leaf structure and maybe one has a more pronounced area between flower and stem but really hard to tell. 

 

 I was happy to see, scattered among the poppies and just coming into flower, lupins. Coulter's lupine, Lupinis sparsiflorus, as its name suggests, has flowers spread more thinly up the stem. It makes them less showy than the Texas bluebonnets and harder to photograph but still lovely. 

The knotch-leaf scorpionweed, Phacelia crenulata were also just starting to flower. These little beauties made us determined to return in 2 weeks to see them in full flower. 

 

I am trying to familiarize myself with all the new wildflowers I am starting to see. Here the lyreleaf jewel flower, Streptanthus carinatus. 

 
 

We needed to be on our way as the drive would take at least 4 hours. We passed through the town of Ajo but didn't stop as we knew we would be returning there on Saturday for the Saturday Market, continuing down highway 86, through Why (who knows why)to the entrance to the park. The road continues for just a few miles to the border with Mexico. We headed straight to our campsite and were really pleased to find it was a pull-through and was on hard standing. So much easier than having to reverse into a site. 

 

They can cater for a large number of campers here and have designated areas for generator use, non generator use and tent camping. I had chosen a generator site because this was to be a real test of our solar panels which we hoped would keep us in power for the week. Just in case we had a generator with us. The campground has no hook-ups, electric, sewer or water, but there is a water spigot at various places around the park and nice flush toilets. That was a nice bonus. There is a place to fill up tanks with water at the sewer dump but we filled with water before we left. We were  already to be self sufficient bringing all the food for the week. That was needed because the closest store was in Why and then only a gas station.

We were warned to keep the hood on our vehicle open to discourage pack rats from taking up residence or just going in there to chew a few wires. They love to nest beneath the organ pipe cactus where you can see large mounds of anything they can lay their hands on. Maybe the campsite here was too noisy so they didn't bother with this large one in the photo. 

It takes a while to get everything set up and there was a surprise waiting for me when I went in the trailer. Airstream in all their wisdom had added one of those slide out pantry shelves with racks. We had already had the experience of the racks bouncing off and everything collapsing in a heap. To stop this happening I had used zip ties to secure them. Not well enough it would seem. This time  a couple of cans of V8 had punctured and blown their contents all over the insides. My first job was to do a huge clean up. 

I felt I needed a slight reward for this and walked around checking what my little garden of the week held. A small ironwood tree with several fruiting desert mistletoe, Phorodendron californicum. A robin and a thrasher were to be frequent visitors for the ripe berries. 

 Several brittle bush in flower and on the far side a cholla, creosote, Larrea tridentata

 

By the time we had set up camp and familiarized ourselves with the surroundings it was time for dinner and then darkness fell. We made plans for the following day which included the desert walk to the visitor center to pick up maps of the trails. And so to bed. Its going to be a pretty chilly night.

Tomorrow we head out on adventures.